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Food and gastronomy travelled from one end of the Empire to the other, forming the cultural heritage of Habsburg cuisine. Civil servants, officers, academics came back from their various postings with a changed taste: their wives had to adapt not only to the foreign language spoken by the cook but also to her cuisine as well as the ingredients offered in the market place. Books which were written for them that gathered all the diversity of ‘Habsburg’ cuisine. The vocabulary bears witness to these transfers: many words for ingredients, vegetables, are typical ‘Habsburg’ constructions.